And of course, it includes the V30’s staples like the super wide-angle camera, hi-fi headphone jack, and extensive video editing features.

I actually like what LG is doing here. The V30 was one of the best phone designs last year, but was held back a bit by the camera and battery life. While we’d have to test it ourselves, the V35 should theoretically improve camera via software, while the more efficient Snapdragon 845 should mean a leap in battery life as well.

I’ve always thought the yearly smartphone release cycle was superfluous. By taking last year’s chassis and simply upgrading some of the internals and software – like spec bumps on a laptop – LG gets to save some money and users get most of the benefits of a new smartphone. I’d like to see more manufacturers take such an approach, and deliver more significant improvements every two years instead. Unlikely to happen, but a man can hope.

LG hasn’t announced a price for the V35 yet, but says it “will roll out in North America this summer.”